1,040 research outputs found
Euclidean vs. non-Euclidean Gamma-Ray Bursts
We classify gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) according to their observed durations and
physical properties of their spectra. We find that long/hard bursts (of
duration T_90 > 2.5 s, and typical photon energy E_p > 0.8 MeV corresponding to
BATSE's energy fluence hardness H^e_{32} > 3) show the strongest deviation from
the three-dimensional Euclidean brightness distribution. The majority of GRBs,
i.e., short bursts (T_90 2.5 s, and
H^e_{32} < 3) show little, if any, deviations from the Euclidean distribution.
These results contradict the prediction of simple extragalactic GRB models that
the most distant bursts should be the most affected by cosmological energy
redshift and time-dilation (long/soft GRBs). The strongly non-Euclidean GRB
subclass has very hard spectra of typical photon energy above 1 MeV, i.e.,
outside the ideal energy range for optimal detection by BATSE. We discuss
possible explanations of this puzzling feature of GRBs.Comment: 15 pages, LATEX text plus two postscript figures included. Submitted
to ApJ Letters on November 24, 1997. Accepted on February 13, 199
An Integrated Picture of Star Formation, Metallicity Evolution, and Galactic Stellar Mass Assembly
We present an integrated study of star formation and galactic stellar mass
assembly from z=0.05-1.5 and galactic metallicity evolution from z=0.05-0.9
using a very large and highly spectroscopically complete sample selected by
rest-frame NIR bolometric flux in the GOODS-N. We assume a Salpeter IMF and fit
Bruzual & Charlot (2003) models to compute the galactic stellar masses and
extinctions. We determine the expected formed stellar mass density growth rates
produced by star formation and compare them with the growth rates measured from
the formed stellar mass functions by mass interval. We show that the growth
rates match if the IMF is slightly increased from the Salpeter IMF at
intermediate masses (~10 solar masses). We investigate the evolution of galaxy
color, spectral type, and morphology with mass and redshift and the evolution
of mass with environment. We find that applying extinction corrections is
critical when analyzing galaxy colors; e.g., nearly all of the galaxies in the
green valley are 24um sources, but after correcting for extinction, the bulk of
the 24um sources lie in the blue cloud. We find an evolution of the
metallicity-mass relation corresponding to a decrease of 0.21+/-0.03 dex
between the local value and the value at z=0.77 in the 1e10-1e11 solar mass
range. We use the metallicity evolution to estimate the gas mass of the
galaxies, which we compare with the galactic stellar mass assembly and star
formation histories. Overall, our measurements are consistent with a galaxy
evolution process dominated by episodic bursts of star formation and where star
formation in the most massive galaxies (>1e11 solar masses) ceases at z<1.5
because of gas starvation. (Abstract abridged)Comment: 48 pages, Accepted by the Astrophysical Journa
Growing massive black holes through super-critical accretion of stellar-mass seeds
The rapid assembly of the massive black holes that power the luminous quasars
observed at remains a puzzle. Various direct collapse models have
been proposed to head-start black hole growth from initial seeds with masses
, which can then reach a billion solar mass while
accreting at the Eddington limit. Here we propose an alternative scenario based
on radiatively inefficient super-critical accretion of stellar-mass holes
embedded in the gaseous circum-nuclear discs (CNDs) expected to exist in the
cores of high redshift galaxies. Our sub-pc resolution hydrodynamical
simulations show that stellar-mass holes orbiting within the central 100 pc of
the CND bind to very high density gas clumps that arise from the fragmentation
of the surrounding gas. Owing to the large reservoir of dense cold gas
available, a stellar-mass black hole allowed to grow at super-Eddington rates
according to the "slim disc" solution can increase its mass by 3 orders of
magnitudes within a few million years. These findings are supported by
simulations run with two different hydro codes, RAMSES based on the Adaptive
Mesh Refinement technique and GIZMO based on a new Lagrangian Godunov-type
method, and with similar, but not identical, sub-grid recipes for star
formation, supernova feedback, black hole accretion and feedback. The low
radiative efficiency of super-critical accretion flows are instrumental to the
rapid mass growth of our black holes, as they imply modest radiative heating of
the surrounding nuclear environment.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Evidence for a Gradual Decline in the Universal Rest-Frame UV Luminosity Density for z < 1
We have utilized various magnitude-limited samples drawn from an extremely
deep and highly complete spectroscopic redshift survey of galaxies observed in
seven colors in the Hawaii Survey Fields and the Hubble Deep Field to
investigate the evolution of the universal rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity
density from z = 1 to the present. The multi-color data (U', B, V, R, I, J,
HK') enable the sample selection to be made in the rest-frame ultraviolet for
the entire redshift range. Due to the large sample size and depth (U_{AB} =
24.75, B_{AB} = 24.75, I_{AB} = 23.5), we are able to accurately determine the
luminosity density to z = 1. We do not confirm the very steep evolution
reported by Lilly et al. (1996) but instead find a shallower slope,
approximately (1+z)^{1.5} for q0 = 0.5, which would imply that galaxy formation
is continuing smoothly to the present time rather than peaking at z = 1. Much
of the present formation is taking place in smaller galaxies. Detailed
comparisons with other recent determinations of the evolution are presented.Comment: 37 pages including 18 figures. Also available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~acowie/uvlum.html To be published in the August,
1999 Astronomical Journal (accepted April 22, 1999
The Cosmic Near Infrared Background: Remnant Light from Early Stars
The redshifted ultraviolet light from early stars at z ~ 10 contributes to
the cosmic near infrared background. We present detailed calculations of its
spectrum with various assumptions about metallicity and mass spectrum of early
stars. We show that if the near infrared background has a stellar origin,
metal-free stars are not the only explanation of the excess near infrared
background; stars with metals (e.g. Z=1/50 Z_sun) can produce the same amount
of background intensity as the metal-free stars. We quantitatively show that
the predicted average intensity at 1-2 microns is essentially determined by the
efficiency of nuclear burning in stars, which is not very sensitive to
metallicity. We predict \nu I_\nu / \dot{\rho}_* ~ 4-8 nW m^-2 sr^-1, where
\dot{\rho_*} is the mean star formation rate at z=7-15 (in units of M_sun yr^-1
Mpc^-3) for stars more massive than 5 M_sun. On the other hand, since we have
very little knowledge about the form of mass spectrum of early stars,
uncertainty in the average intensity due to the mass spectrum could be large.
An accurate determination of the near infrared background allows us to probe
formation history of early stars, which is difficult to constrain by other
means. While the star formation rate at z=7-15 inferred from the current data
is significantly higher than the local rate at z<5, it does not rule out the
stellar origin of the cosmic near infrared background. In addition, we show
that a reasonable initial mass function, coupled with this star formation rate,
does not over-produce metals in the universe in most cases, and may produce as
little as less than 1 % of the metals observed in the universe today.Comment: 37 pages, 7 figures, (v2) Changes to abstract to emphasize that the
excess near infrared background can solely be explained by stars with
significant metals. (Metal-free stars are not necessarily needed.) (v3)
Expanded discussion on the metallicity constraint. Accepted for publication
in Ap
On the Determination of Star Formation Rates in Evolving Galaxy Populations
The redshift dependence of the luminosity density in certain wavebands (e.g.
UV and H-alpha) can be used to infer the history of star formation in the
populations of galaxies producing this luminosity. This history is a useful
datum in studies of galaxy evolution. It is therefore important to understand
the errors that attend the inference of star formation rate densities from
luminosity densities. This paper explores the self-consistency of star
formation rate diagnostics by reproducing commonly used observational
procedures in a model with known galaxy populations, evolutionary histories and
spectral emission properties. The study reveals a number of potential sources
of error in the diagnostic processes arising from the differential evolution of
different galaxy types. We argue that multi-wavelength observations can help to
reduce these errors.Comment: 13 pages (including 5 encapsulated postscript figures), aastex,
accepted for publication in Ap
Rapid Formation of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxy Mergers with Gas
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are a ubiquitous component of the nuclei of
galaxies. It is normally assumed that, following the merger of two massive
galaxies, a SMBH binary will form, shrink due to stellar or gas dynamical
processes and ultimately coalesce by emitting a burst of gravitational waves.
However, so far it has not been possible to show how two SMBHs bind during a
galaxy merger with gas due to the difficulty of modeling a wide range of
spatial scales. Here we report hydrodynamical simulations that track the
formation of a SMBH binary down to scales of a few light years following the
collision between two spiral galaxies. A massive, turbulent nuclear gaseous
disk arises as a result of the galaxy merger. The black holes form an eccentric
binary in the disk in less than a million years as a result of the
gravitational drag from the gas rather than from the stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Science, 40 pages, 7 figures,
Supplementary Information include
Formation and evolution of galaxy dark matter halos and their substructure
We use the ``Via Lactea'' simulation to study the co-evolution of a Milky
Way-size LambdaCDM halo and its subhalo population. While most of the host halo
mass is accreted over the first 6 Gyr in a series of major mergers, the
physical mass distribution [not M_vir(z)] remains practically constant since
z=1. The same is true in a large sample of LambdaCDM galaxy halos. Subhalo mass
loss peaks between the turnaround and virialization epochs of a given mass
shell, and declines afterwards. 97% of the z=1 subhalos have a surviving bound
remnant at the present epoch. The retained mass fraction is larger for
initially lighter subhalos: satellites with maximum circular velocities Vmax=10
km/s at z=1 have today about 40% of their mass back then. At the first
pericenter passage a larger average mass fraction is lost than during each
following orbit. Tides remove mass in substructure from the outside in, leading
to higher concentrations compared to field halos of the same mass. This effect,
combined with the earlier formation epoch of the inner satellites, results in
strongly increasing subhalo concentrations towards the Galactic center. We
present individual evolutionary tracks and present-day properties of the likely
hosts of the dwarf satellites around the Milky Way. The formation histories of
``field halos'' that lie today beyond the Via Lactea host are found to strongly
depend on the density of their environment. This is caused by tidal mass loss
that affects many field halos on eccentric orbits.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures. Figures 6,7 and 8 corrected in this version,
for details see the erratum in ApJ 679, 1680 and
http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl/publ/vlevolerr.pdf. Data, movies and
images are available at http://www.ucolick.org/~diemand/vl
Topology of the Galaxy Distribution in the Hubble Deep Fields
We have studied topology of the distribution of the high redshift galaxies
identified in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) North and South. The two-dimensional
genus is measured from the projected distributions of the HDF galaxies at
angular scales from to . We have also divided the samples into
three redshift slices with roughly equal number of galaxies using photometric
redshifts to see possible evolutionary effects on the topology.
The genus curve of the HDF North clearly indicates clustering of galaxies
over the Poisson distribution while the clustering is somewhat weaker in the
HDF South. This clustering is mainly due to the nearer galaxies in the samples.
We have also found that the genus curve of galaxies in the HDF is consistent
with the Gaussian random phase distribution with no significant redshift
dependence.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap
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